Parrot nestlings spend time stringing together jumbled mixtures of sound—a rehearsal for more adult conversations

Laser-based optical frequency combs, originally developed to time atomic clocks, can also perform fast, noninvasive tests for COVID—and potentially other diseases as well

The newest SARS-CoV-2 strain may cause red, watery eyes. But the symptom can have other causes, too

Adverse early childhood experience leaves persisting traces in brain structure, highlighting the importance of preventive measures for healthy brain development

Brain fog is such a nebulous term in long COVID that it delegitimizes efforts to get disability accommodations and medical leave

Physicists have put the largest-ever object into a quantum superposition

Under former president Jair Bolsonaro, scientific misinformation ran rampant through Brazil. And even with new leadership, it will be difficult to stop

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of the oral contraceptive Opill without a prescription, increasing access to birth control at drug stores and online retailers

A potentially record-setting heat wave is headed for the Pacific Northwest and western Canada, a sign of the shift to hotter—and earlier—summers

The U.K.’s fertility regulator reveals that at least one child has been born using mitochondrial replacement therapy, but the procedure’s effectiveness remains to be seen

Efforts to eradicate invasive rats that have decimated native species on islands around the world are beginning to bear fruit

Mistaken fossil identity in India, decrypted letters of an imprisoned Scottish queen, marsupials seeking marsupials Down Under, and more in this month’s Quick Hits

Channeling Thomas Edison and Salvador Dalí, researchers show that shaping dream imagery could spark creative ideas to target a specific problem

Betelgeuse, the red star at the shoulder of the constellation Orion, has been acting strange, raising hopes for the spectacle of a lifetime

At 25 days old, these specimens could be the oldest primate embryos ever grown outside the womb

Western individualism may promote a “better than you actually are” mindset

Two SciAm editors duke it out to see if wormholes and multiverses could in fact exist.

Launching a fleet of space telescopes is not the solution to the Starlink problem

Permafrost can—incongruously—be found in Hawaii, but surveys show it has been shrinking over time, in part because of climate change

Criminalizing patients could have adverse consequences, experts warn